Our culture, which reinforces male dominance and absolves men of childcare, is as much to blame for the continued and escalating violence against women as are historical and social factors, University of Guyana Women and Gender Studies lecturer Evette Burke-Douglas said.
In an interview with Stabroek News on the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, being observed tomorrow, Burke-Douglas noted that incidences of sexual violence in Guyana continued to escalate and that the relevant authorities appeared to lack the political will to aggressively stem the continued violation of women and children. She recognized the usefulness of the Consultation Paper, “Stamp it out” which the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security has developed. She pointed to the fact that it indicates that the new legislation will provide for compensation to be disallowed in sexual violence cases as a significant one, adding that compensation endangers due process.
Burke-Douglas said those who believe that monetary payment is enough to assuage the trauma of the violated, demonstrate a level of insensitivity for the humanity of the violated. She noted the implications of sexual violation, such as prolonged emotional disturbance, lack of a positive sense of self and continued experiences of sexual powerlessness, especially in women.
She added that the initiatives to have expeditious adjudications of rape cases or any form of sexual violation as outlined in the Consultation Paper are critical since she feels it is inhuman to delay justice for ‘the violated’.
Further she believes that violated women are doubly raped when they are forced do recount their story in a manner which denigrates them as victims and as women.
High number
The high number of male sex offenders is no coincidence, according to Burke-Douglas, who opines that men have for years assumed and acted on the assumption they are the rightful owners and controllers of women’s sexuality.
She said the time has come for a radical collective intervention by women against those who continue to violate females and children.
Burke-Douglas said sexual offenders appear to be growing younger, but stated that men who continue to violate women and young children do so because society, the culture and the law makes it easy.
She noted that for instance, the music that is part of our popular culture objectifies women’s sexuality, adding that it seems a difficult task for the artistes behind such music to market it without exploiting female sexuality.
In relation to the law, she said, very often the insensitivity of those responsible for social control is reflected in the frivolity and superficiality with which such cases are still treated in spite of all the training received from women and gender focused entities.
She said that at a cultural and institutional level, male dominance is reinforced and violation of women ignored when women are encouraged to remain with their abusers ‘for the children sake’ and when religions continue to uphold the male as the sole authority and controller of the household.
“Personally I am angry because every year in my class I have to listen to the pains of females who have been sexually violated and observe the powerlessness they feel due to the scant possibility of a guilty verdict against the violator,” Burke added.
Role of fathers
Commenting on the role of fathers in the delivery of childcare and protection, she noted that most often mothers bear the total responsibility of childcare, and are blamed for not taking enough care of their children when they are violated.
‘There is need to contest the gender role responsibility which defines mothers primarily as caregivers, mainly responsible for protecting and ensuring the safety of their children”.
She said people need to remember children have fathers who must be held accountable for the non support of their children.
Burke believes that our local culture has provided liberty for a father to abandon his child with relatively few sanctions, which in a sense promotes psychological violence against the child and his/her mother. According to her, men need to realize that the essence of masculinity is predicated not upon the amount of children they procreate but on their ability to nurture and to protect their children from all forms of violations.
When asked about the role of the relevant authorities and their attitude towards these crimes Burke said “I am not sure that those with the authority to make a difference really do care or even fully understand the implications of sexual violence. Violence against women is the result of historically unequal power relations between men and women and since most of those who hold the reigns of power are men, we witness their hypocrital presentations of public posturing on the concern and support of women and gender issues, simply because it is politically correct for them to do so”.
Burke and her WST 410 class at the university drafted a petition that sought to ensure that persons accused of sexual violence do not settle out of court, however some issues, which she said are unclear have retarded the process of the petition being heard.
